With Sri Lanka’s fuel shortage grinding the island to a halt, Colombo has sent a high level delegation to Russia in the hope of securing more fuel supplies despite the risk of international sanctions.

International fuel suppliers and foreign banks are now rejecting Sri Lankan backed letters of credit admitted a minister this morning, as fuel supplies look set to run dry this week with no new shipments incoming.

Sri Lanka only has 9,000 metric tons of diesel and 6,000 metric tons of petrol admitted Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, enough for only a few more days.

Sri Lankan police have reportedly arrested two women in Amparai under the country’s archaic anti-LGBT laws that continue to criminalise homosexuality across the island.

The two women, an Indian Tamil woman and a local Muslim woman from Akkaraipattu have subsequently admitted into Kalmunai Base Hospital where they will reportedly be subjected to a “psychiatric evaluation”.

The arrest comes as pride was being celebrated around the world, including in Colombo and Jaffna. However, the Sri Lankan government continues to criminalise homosexuality.

As anti-government protests in Colombo continue, senior US officials from the State Department and US Treasury met with embattled Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa today, to discuss the island’s worsening economic crisis.

Robert Kaproth, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Asia, and Kelly Keiderling, South and Central Asian Affairs Bureau Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy, joined US Ambassador Julie Chung to meet with Rajapaksa in Colombo.

At least one teacher and as many as six male students belonging to a school in Mullaitivu have been arrested on charges relating to the sexual abuse, extortion, and exploitation of underage school girls. 

The disgraced teacher served as the designated Development Officer at the school. He now stands accused of coordinating several acts of sexual violence against underage school girls. The teacher reportedly wielded his influence to encourage male students, aged 17-18, to develop intimate relationships with young school girls. The boys were able to acquire nude photos and videos of the victims, which then appear to have been shared with the teacher. 

The Fitch Ratings credit rating agency has issued another downgrade for the Bank of Ceylon’s (BOC) Long- and Short-Term Foreign Currency (FC) Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to 'RD' (Restricted Default) from 'CC' and 'C', respectively.

The organisation also downgraded the Viability Rating (VR) to 'f' from 'cc' and removed the ratings from Rating Watch Negative (RWN). 

Rajapaksa-ally and paramilitary leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, also known as Pillayan, has refuted claims by an informant in his party, Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP), of the party’s involvement in several kidnappings and murders.

The Sri Lankan Navy detained 35 people on Thursday for reportedly attempting to flee the island to Australia. 

In total, 25 men, 4 women and 6 children children were detained. The youngest child was six years old. The detainees are from Trincomalee, Mannar, Batticaloa, Negombo, Kalpitiya and Nuwara Eliya. 

In a recent report published by the United Nations Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on peaceful protest and assembly expressed deep concern about the worsening human rights situation in Sri Lanka.

A court in Germany has given four Tamils suspended sentences after they confessed to fundraising for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) this week.

The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court imposed sentences of between one year and one year and nine months on the four Tamil men.

According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the court took “into account that they had to flee their homeland due to violence and oppression by the Sinhalese majority of the population and that they lost relatives and friends to anti-Tamil pogroms”.